There are a number of devices that have been invented and currently sold on the market for pet grooming, including brushes and combs for removing loose hair, deshedding devices and items that assist in cleaning, lathering and bathing pets. For example, there are devices for removing loose hair having a nippled polymer surface that uses the friction created when moving the polymer surface over the fur to capture and remove loose hair. The petandme website on the Internet provides an example of this type of device. Unfortunately, this device only provides effective hair removal when the fur is dry and cannot be used efficiently when bathing a pet.
There are a number of deshedding devices such as the Furminator™ and similar devices such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,509,926 to Porter et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 8,528,501 to Prochaska that have bladed combs to catch fur that is in the process of being shed. Similar to devices for loose hair removal, these devices are most effective when the pet's fur is dry and should probably not be used when bathing a pet.
Other devices are designed to be utilized when bathing a pet such as the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,509,925 to Embry. This device contains a handheld housing, a chamber for bathing solution and a connector for a hose to provide a continuous supply of water. This is a problem if water conservation is desired or the animal is small and the water requirement is minimal. Other similar devices that do not require a continuous supply of water contain reservoirs within their structure that continually release the bathing fluid during use. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,834,619 to Rampersad is a mitt with a hollow interior that is used to house bathing fluid, which is released when pressure is applied by bending the mitt. Unfortunately, this presents problems in the event that the mitt: is bent inadvertently such as in the act of restraining the pet during the bath; no longer provides sufficient pressure to release the bathing fluid because the reservoir is low; or releases too much when the reservoir is full or too much pressure is applied when scrubbing the fur.
The Rampersad device comprises a handheld housing containing a depressible fluid bladder with massaging nibs on the side that dispenses the bathing solution. This device suffers from the same problems as the Embry device. Because the depressible areas for fluid release are positioned on the finger gripping portion of the housing vigorous use of the device can result in inadvertent dispensing of fluid from the chamber. In addition, because the valve port is centrally located in the bathing area of the device, dispensing can only be effective when the device is held parallel to the ground. Unfortunately, it is desirable to dispense fluid on all areas of the pet including the sides and belly which would be difficult to achieve with this device.
Consequently, there is a need in the pet grooming industry for a single device that may be used for effective and efficient bathing of a pet which includes the ability to dispense bathing solution on the pet's fur at all angles, that will effectively dispense until the bathing fluid in the reservoir is close to empty, that is compact and does not require the storage of multiple pieces of equipment and can perform the functions of a curry comb or deshedder, remove loose hair, house and apply fluid the pet's fur for bathing, and massage the coat during bathing to increase effective cleaning.